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Mapping Cumulative Environmental Risks: Examples from the EU NoMiracle Project

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Abstract

We present examples of cumulative chemical risk mapping methods developed within the NoMiracle project. The different examples illustrate the application of the concentration addition (CA) approach to pesticides at different scale, the integration in space of cumulative risks to individual organisms under the CA assumption, and two techniques to (1) integrate risks using data-driven, parametric statistical methods, and (2) cluster together areas with similar occurrence of different risk factors, respectively. The examples are used to discuss some general issues, particularly on the conventional nature of cumulative risk maps, and may provide some suggestions for the practice of cumulative risk mapping.

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Acknowledgments

This paper contains considerations jointly developed by different partners of the NoMiracle project consortium. The individual case studies presented here are provided by single partners, to which the reader may refer for further details and for all scientific aspects not related to the specific topic of risk mapping: A. Pistocchi and P. Vizcaino for the European mapping of pesticides, S. Sala and M. Vighi for the case study on pesticides in Lombardy, J. Groenwold and J. Lahr for the one on pesticides in the Netherlands, M. Loos and A. Ragas for the case study on risks to individual organisms, U. Schlink and K. Strebel for the case of benzene in Leipzig, and M. Mujica and R. Rallo for the case on aquifer vulnerability mapping in Catalonia. J. Lahr coordinated the mapping exercises within the frame of NoMiracle Project work package 4.4, while A. Pistocchi coordinated the writing of the paper. The research was partly funded by the European Commission FP6 contract no. 003956 (NoMiracle IP: http://nomiracle.jrc.ec.europa.eu). Funding of Alterra, Wageningen UR, was also obtained from the Strategic research program “Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions” financed by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Food Quality (LNV).

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  1. Alberto Pistocchi

    Present address: European Academy, Viale Druso, 1-39100, Bolzano, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Commission Joint Research Centre, Via E.Fermi, 1-21027, Ispra, VA, Italy

    Alberto Pistocchi & Pilar Vizcaino

  2. Alterra, Wageningen UR, P. O. Box 46, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jan Groenwold & Joost Lahr

  3. Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Mark Loos & Ad M. J. Ragas

  4. Departament d’Enginyeria Química i Departament d’Enginyeria Informatica i Matematiques, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Paisos Catalans, 26, 43007, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain

    Marelys Mujica & Robert Rallo

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences, Universita’ di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Serenella Sala & Marco Vighi

  6. Helmholz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Uwe Schlink & Kathrin Strebel

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  1. Alberto Pistocchi
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Correspondence to Alberto Pistocchi.

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Supporting information

A document of supporting information is available along with the paper, containing additional material for the illustration of the case studies presented here.

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Figure S1

Sample map of mass equivalent (criterion: acute toxicity to earthworms) (DOC 1108 kb)

Figure S2

Average potential ecological effects per grid cell of three insecticides calculated by the NMI for the year 1998 (DOC 26 kb)

Figure S3

Potential effects of chlorpyrifos on water organisms in 1998 calculated by the NMI (DOC 435 kb)

Figure S4

Potential effects of chlorpyrifos leaching to groundwater in 1998 calculated by the NMI (DOC 228 kb)

Figure S5

Accumulated potential effects of three insecticides (chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid, and diazinon) on water organisms in 1998 calculated by the NMI (DOC 436 kb)

Figure S6

Average potential effects of diazinon on water organisms during 1998 calculated by the NMI (DOC 26 kb)

Table S1

Criteria for risk indicator mapping at European scale: summary of HAIR indicators and maps to be used (E = emission; D = drift; M = mass in soil; L = loads to water bodies; C w = concentration in soil water phase) (DOC 30 kb)

Table S2

Available toxicological parameters for the chemicals considered in this study (DOC 28 kb)

Table S3

Substance classes used in the present study (DOC 53 kb)

Table S4

Properties of three pesticides used for demonstration (DOC 32 kb)

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Pistocchi, A., Groenwold, J., Lahr, J. et al. Mapping Cumulative Environmental Risks: Examples from the EU NoMiracle Project. Environ Model Assess 16, 119–133 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-010-9230-6

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